Minister committed to helping farmers through SAF process

Deputy Minister for Farming and Food Rebecca Evans has reassured farmers that the Welsh Government will do all it can within European Commission (EC) rules to help amend errors and mistakes made in Single Application Forms (SAFs).

With Friday’s deadline now passed, the Deputy Minister advised farmers to check their SAF acknowledgement letters as soon as they receive them to ensure that no mistakes were made when completing the form.

Where farmers believe mistakes may have been made, Rebecca Evans said the rules provide three key measures to help.

• Amendments and additions – Farmers can make amendments to the Field Data or Common Land details sections of their SAF up to and including 1 June this year without penalty.
• Obvious error – where all that is wrong is a contradiction within the application and supporting information farmers can correct a mistake in their SAFs, without penalty at any time.
• Notified Error – This provision enables farmers to notify RPW in writing at any time that part of their SAF is incorrect or has become incorrect since it was submitted, provided the errors have not been notified to the farmer by RPW, and the farmer has not been informed of an inspection.

The Deputy Minister said:

“The regulations give paying agencies no discretion in the handling of applications and tightly manage the administration of the forms and resultant payments. I am pleased, however, that regulations allow for land amendments to be made to the SAFs up to and including 1 June without penalty.“If farmers spot any errors in their acknowledgement letter they should inform Rural Payments Wales immediately to avoid possible penalties.

“Here in Wales, the online application process has worked well since it was launched back in February, with the number of responses encouraging and very positive feedback from the industry. We have always been clear that this year’s SAFs will take longer to complete compared to previous years because this is the first year of the new Basic Payment Scheme and have made every effort to ensure that farmers are well supported through this process by extending opening hours at divisional offices, running open meetings and making more staff available.

“I know that cash-flow for all farm businesses is a priority and urge all farmers to check their forms to make sure any necessary changes are made, ensuring that forms can begin to be processed and payments made at the earliest opportunity.”